TIMBER GROWTH AND TIMBER DRAIN 



NEW GROWTH f f f | f f.t ttt t 



M BILLION CUBIC FEET* 



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TIMBER ,*iC*iijri?*if jnt ^if jg? ^rtc^nf jnf ^nf^Of >tf ^nf jnf jnlnf 



17 BILLISN CUBIC FEET* 



*EACH SYMB6L = 1 BILLION CU. F* 



TIMBER CUT OR DESTROYED IN 1943 

 WAS 50 PERCENT MORE THAN TOTAL GROWTH 



timber must be kept as growing stock to sustain an ade- 

 quate and uninterrupted output of commercial prod- 

 ucts. More than two-thirds of the remaining saw tim- 

 ber is concentrated in the West. The available timber 

 in the East is not sufficient to maintain the present rate 

 of cutting. And several decades are required to grow 

 trees suitable for saw timber. 



The drain on timber is serious enough for the Nation 

 as a whole; for some communities it has been fatal. 

 There the timber has been exhausted, and the communi- 

 ties hard hit as a result. Each year we hear of a number 

 of sawmills closed down and dismantled because they are 

 no longer able to get a satisfactory supply of logs. For a 

 community primarily dependent on the forests, what 

 satisfaction can it be to the people affected by the closing 

 of a mill to know that nationally the cut is only 2 or 

 3 percent of the stand ? 



This does not mean that we should stop the cutting of 

 either virgin timber or second growth. It does mean, 

 however, that we can and should meet current needs 

 with cutting practices and other measures that will as- 

 sure adequate new growth. 



With reasonably good management, our forest 

 land eventually should be ample to produce con- 

 tinuously all of the wood that we are likely to 

 need. There is no need for permanently curtail- 



635457° — 45- 



